Parallel

3M's Multi-touch Monitor

By Mike Riley, July 15, 2010

Programming the M2256PW 22-inch display for a next-gen user experience

Programming MultiTouch

Since the M2256PW supports the Windows 7 digitizer protocol, programming multi-touch applications within that operating system is remarkably easy. However, before jumping into the code, multi-touch developers should first survey the landscape of Windows 7-compatible multi-touch applications. This will not only give an indication of the current state of the art, it will also show how effective well-written multi-touch apps can function. An added benefit is that these experiences will fuel additional ideas for future multi-touch programs.

The first place to start is to download and install the Microsoft Touch Pack for Windows 7. This suite of working applications demonstrate a range of multi-touch scenarios, from an Incredible Machine-style arcade title called "Blackboard" and air hockey game called "Rebound", to a photo collage and playful screen saver program. Interacting with these programs helps you realize the potential that multi-touch can deliver. They also verify that the 3M monitor is working at its optimal state and ready for development.

Linux users will need to work a bit harder to get multi-touch functionality to work in that operating system environment. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the monitor to work successfully using the latest 2.6.34 kernel and alpha build of Ubuntu 10.10. This could have been attributed to a number of reasons ranging from video card driver compatibility to other input hardware and the still alpha state of the distribution. 3M does provide a custom proprietary driver for Linux gurus who are ready to hack their own X Windows programs, but without access to the 3M source code, kernel revisions and other modular aspects could be problematic. Adventurous developers who prefer to use Linux as their multi-touch OS of choice should check out the Linux multitouch howto available from the ENAC Interactive Computing Laboratory website.

Touching the Future

With an ever-growing installed user base of multi-touch-capable mobile devices, the expectations of this technology reaching the larger real estate of desktop and even wall-size displays is also expanding. Such a groundswell of interest will no doubt provide a first mover advantage to software developers that fully leverage this cool interface modality. Early adopters such as Perceptive Pixel and SpaceClaim have already begun to push the boundaries of this new dimension with CAD and virtual Sound Mixing Boards, and other practical applications await. Videos on 3M's YouTube channel can see these and other multi-touch apps in action.

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